The Wall Street Journal - 07.09.2019 - 08.09.2019

D4| Saturday/Sunday, September 7 - 8, 2019 ** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.**

borhoods, restaurants or bars

I scout out on an early run.

On that first morning, my

running guide, Jay Sapphire

(an Australian resident of

Siem Reap) and I skirted the

main road that encircles the

complex’s most famous tem-

ple and crossed a moat on an

ancient bridge flanked by

stone carvings. We passed

through the southern gateway

to Angkor Thom, a neighbor-

ing and much larger temple

complex. Then Jay led me off-

road on dirt paths, passing

tiny temples, enormous old

trees and small villages just

waking to the steamy dawn.

We watched the orb of the

sun starting to peek through

the trees, and came upon a

completely deserted temple,

Prasat Bat Chum, buried deep

in the countryside. We had

the place all to ourselves, just

as visitors did a couple of de-

cades—or centuries—ago.

The next morning, very

early, Jay and I set off on a

sleepy, bumpy car ride for our

most ambitious leg of this

running tour: a long run

through a vast temple com-

plex called Koh Ker seldom

visited by tourists. When we

arrived, three hours later, just

after sunrise, we started run-

ning right away, following a

looping dirt road built to con-

nect about a dozen of the 96

temples on this site. The capi-

tal of the Khmer empire from

928 to 944 AD, the site pre-

dates Angkor Wat by about

200 years. Because this place

is so far from the tourist hub

of Siem Reap, it receives few

visitors. For the first 8 miles

of our 10-mile run we see no

one but a few temple sweep-

ers. Some of Koh Ker’s tem-

Make

A Run

For It

A restless wanderer

jogs his way around

Southeast Asia’s

temples, stopping

for snacks and

skirting wild boar

A

NGKOR WAT,
Cambodia’s
prized tourist
destination, re-
ceives over 2.5
million visitors a year. Some-
times, at dawn, it can feel like
a million of them are right
there next to you, disembark-
ing from tour buses, jostling
for photo ops, feeding the
cheeky monkeys who inhabit
the ruins, and acknowledging
the beauty of the sunrise in
one of many foreign languages
constantly spoken here. It’s
the kind of mass tourism that
makes me want to run away
fast. On this Angkor Wat
dawn, though, my escape is
not just metaphorical. I’m lit-
erally jogging away from
these visitors, guided by my
own running coach. We’re on
a program devised by the
Anantara Angkor Resort, lo-
cated in the adjacent town of
Siem Reap, which offers
guests running tours of the
temples. These morning tours
are offered for solo runners or
small groups, and the hotel
provides a driver and vehicle
to follow us, a range of drinks
and snacks, and a running
coach, for $100 per person.
This is the beginning of my
trip through Southeast Asia,
the place where, 20 years ago,
while living in Singapore, I
learned to love running, be-
fore moving back home to
New York. Each day of the ad-
venture started much like
this, with a 6- to 10-mile run
that, for me, doubles as exer-
cise and an opportunity for
on-foot exploration. When I
travel, I need a way to see
places for myself, away from
the tourist mobs and the
well-trodden paths, discover-
ing hidden pockets of the city
or the countryside, stopping
for street food I discover
along the way. Running lets
me be a flâneur but cover a
lot more ground than if I
were strolling. These morning
runs are also reconnaissance
missions—I will often return,
later that day, to the neigh-

BYTOMDOWNEY

ADVENTURE & TRAVEL

ples blend right into the trees

of the jungle. Branches sprout

out of stone, become one with

the edifice, coalescing into a

blend of beauty and decay.

As the sun rose high in the

sky, we stopped to refuel, sip-

ping chilled coconut water

and wiping our brows with

ice-cold hand towels, all part

of the Anantara program’s ef-

fort to make what could oth-

erwise be unbearable—a long

run through the high heat

and humidity—luxurious. To-

ward the end of the run we

reached the towering Koh Ker

temple, the most striking in

the complex, which looks al-

most Mayan in style. We as-

cended more than 100 feet,

climbing a wooden scaffold-

ing that encircled the ruin,

passing two orange-clad Thai

monks on the way. When we

finally stepped up onto the

giant stone slabs at the top,

the sweep of this complex

and the full extent of our

morning run were revealed.

Dense jungle cloaked the

brown stones of dozens of

nearby temples, and sur-

rounding them, vast ocher

plains and hazy mountains

disappearing into the horizon.

After Cambodia, I headed

to Penang, an island off the

coast of Malaysia. In George

Town, the island’s capital, I

kept up the morning runs

even without a guide. The

heat was so punishing that I

set out in total darkness, long

before sunrise. Even that

early, many of the city’s food

markets and most of its

Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist and

Muslim places of worship

were open. The kopitiams

(coffee shops) clustered

around these sites had also

already come to life, supplying

sleepy worshipers with their

most important nonspiritual

need: iced coffee, typically

served with generous spoon-

fuls of condensed milk. Near

the center of town, where a

cluster of whitewashed British

colonial buildings still stands,

joggers ran laps around the

Esplanade, once a British mili-

tary parade ground. I joined

them for a loop, then headed

off in search of more city life. I

soon spotted a line of people

assembled before a metal ta-

ble covered in bright green

packets, and decided to join

them. As I worked my way to-

ward the front, I learned what

we all had been waiting to

buy: nasi lemak, Malaysia’s

traditional breakfast. Banana

leaves shaped into a pyramid

contain coconut rice, spicy

sambal, tiny fried anchovies

and a few peanuts, topped

with fish or chicken and egg. I

purchased a freshly made

bundle then sat down to eat it

to fortify myself for the rest of

the run.

When I lived in Singapore

my apartment was next to

Bukit Timah Nature Reserve.

A track runs through the re-

serve, up and down its steep

hills, across its grassy fields,

alongside its quarry, and into

jungle so dense that it was

shaded enough to run in, even

in extreme heat. At the end of

my trip, I went back there for

a last run in Southeast Asia

before I flew home. Entering

the reserve, I came across the

small monkeys that dwell in

the park. About 20 minutes

into the run, I heard what

sounded like a massive crea-

ture crashing through the un-

derbrush and saw another

one follow. They were wild

boar. Despite the unexpected

beasts, the trail, cut through

fast-growing jungle, was im-

maculately maintained. As I

rounded a corner and ap-

proached a trail map, I saw a

signature Singaporean touch:

A sign warning that joggers

faced up to a 2,000 Singapore

dollars (about US$1,440) fine

if they were caught running

on what was now, apparently,

a bike-only trail. I looked both

ways and didn’t see any park

rangers or cyclists, so I con-

tinued on the trail to com-

plete my loop. A run like this

was worth the very Singapor-

ean danger of a huge fine.

We ran past small

villages just waking

to the steamy dawn.

JOINT VENTURE Jay Sapphire, a running guide at Anantara Angkor Resort, and a colleague at Angkor Wat’s Bayon Temple.

FROM TOP: ANANTARA ANGKOR RESORT; ALAMY

DASH AND DINE Kapitan Keling Mosque in George Town, the capital of Penang. The local

chapters of the Hash House Harriers social club follow runs with drinks and often meals.

Cambodia’s Anan-

tara Angkor Re-

sort, located close

to Angkor Wat, of-

fers Angkor Temple

Runtoursof3k,

10k and 21k. The

excursions ($100

per person) include

a running trainer/

guide, ice-cold tow-

els, drinks, snacks

and a support tuk-

tuk (an open-air

vehicle). Anantara

also arranges run-

ning tours of the

temple complex of

KohKer,atwo-

hour drive from the

resort for about

$170 per person.

Room rates from

about $200 a

night, anan-

tara.com. Go! Run-

ning Tours pairs

travelers (one to 5

people) with local

running guides

around the world.

In Southeast Asia

they cover Bangkok

and Singapore (and

soon Hanoi), with

runs ranging from

6k to 21k, on

themes like street

art and street food.

From about $35

per person, gorun-

ningtours.com.

In Penang, intrepid

travelers can run

with a local chap-

terofthe Hash

House Harriers, a

self-described

“Drinking Club with

a Running Prob-

lem” founded by

Brits in 1938. Post-

run drinks, and of-

tenameal,areof-

fered. Guest

runners are usually

welcome. From

about $5 per per-

son, malaysian-

hashcouncil.com

Ground Support

Running tours and organizations in Southeast Asia offer pampering, coaching

or simply a convivial group of other exercise nuts

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